My daughter Rachel had all four of her wisdom teeth out today. As I write this, she is still really sleepy from the great drugs her dentist gave her. I’ve been making sure that she has her pain medication and making sure she has something in her stomach so that she can tolerate her pain medicines. (Vicodin and Ibupuprofen both can cause nausea when given on an empty stomach)
I also have been making sure she keeps ice packs on her jaw. This is something I had to learn the hard way when I had my wisdom teeth out back when I was in the Air Force almost 24 years ago. You see, when you keep the area where the wisdom teeth are extracted chilled, that prevents the clots formed over the wisdom teeth removal site from falling out-this, in turn exposes bare nerves to air.To say that it hurts is an understatement. How much does it hurt? Well, I have had broken ribs from being hit by a car, and I can see with the utmost confidence that my dry socket hurt a helluva lot more than the broken ribs. I still remember the death grip that I had on our car dashboard as my wife drove me to the dentist at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. He put in some packing into the dry socket using guaze strips. It was a miracle. Right after that, I went and had my first solid food in three days.
With my wife and my son, they religiously kept ice on their jaws, and they had no problems with dry sockets or post operative pain.
My daughter was not exactly in the greatest state of mind going into this procedure. She had some extensive work done on her mouth and her teeth from about 5 years ago when an errant softball broke the bone in her maxillae, which meant that she needed braces to keep everything together and to give her mouth a normal appearance. Her dentist did a great job, and she has a fantastic smile to this day. Still, she has a lot of bad memories from that incident. Add on top of that, her horse Maverick needed about 40 stitches from a grisly laceration he took on his snout yesterday. Add all of that together, and my daughter was a bundle of nerves going into the dentist today. Luckily, he was very patient, and did not push things, he tried to put her at ease as much as possible, and took his time. The man has the patience of Job. I was allowed to watch the procedure, and I am still amazed at what Dentists can do operating in such a small area as the human mouth.(Rosie O’Donnell notwithstanding)
It’s not a fun thing, wisdom teeth removal, but I am greatful that at least I have insurance so that I could get this done. The longer you wait, the tougher they are to remove.
Get well, Girly-Girl, you did really well today.
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